Each Week Is a Great Adventure

continued  This response time is unacceptable, and I'm sure you understand the seriousness of this issue. I know you wanted to bring people over to see this when it occurs, but we can no longer wait for that type of troubleshooting.

In addition to the response time, the dispatcher called P.A. Help Desk twice. She was told once that it was just "running slow" and another time that it "looked up." As we have discussed in the past, this is a chronic problem with the help desk. Previous discussions have not accomplished the desired outcome. Please report this to the help desk manager, Karen Hess.

When we spoke you were going to check the problem out, and I'm sure you will do the appropriate follow up. I'm looking forward to speaking with you at our next meeting.

Kathy Wilder,

CLETS Coordinator

July 31, 2000

10:18 a.m.

From: Ron Lane, [County Public Safety Information Technology Manager]

To: Gary Clarke, [County Technology Manager]

Subject: Sheriff Outage

I had a long conversation with John Pingel this weekend when he called me to advise of the Sheriff IBIS outage. This appears to be an issue similar to the one you were concerned about last week -- lack of on-going maintenance of servers and systems. For a mission critical system such as IBIS, a system that is used in the booking and releasing of prisoners, to run out of disk space and go down for five hours is a self-inflicted outage that is completely avoidable.

I have asked for the RCA, which I understand indicates that the outage was avoidable. Anyway, this may be another example to add to your list in support of lack of ongoing maintenance.

CC: Thomas Boardman

August 9, 2000

REPORT FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL CONTROL

COMPUTER PROBLEMS

Monday 8-7-2000 until Tuesday 8-8-2000 at 10:00 a.m. we had no database or e-mail service at the North Shelter and the South Shelter.

Business could be conducted on a limited basis by requesting the staff at the Central shelter to make inquiries in the database and FAX the information to the outlying shelters.

Monday 8-7-2000 until Tuesday 8-8-2000 at 10:00 a.m. staff at the Central Shelter could not send or receive e-mail messages outside the building and had no access to the mainframe or Internet.

Wednesday 8-9-2000 from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. there was no access to the Chameleon database system at all three shelters.

IMPACT OF THE

CHAMELEON DATABASE OUTAGE

ANIMALS

No euthanasias could be done for three days at South and North, which also adds to overcrowding in the kennels and catteries.

* Overcrowded kennels and catteries increases disease among the animals.

* Overcrowding lowers adoptions because the customers will become disgusted and leave.

* Spay and neuter surgeries can't be done on the animals, which results in delayed or aborted adoptions.

* Medical treatments are delayed, which results in higher disease, lower adoptions, and more euthanasias.

Overcrowded kennels and catteries make it unsafe for the kennel staff, as they have to deal with fighting animals.

* Unable to track the quarantine period on potential rabies cases.

August 29, 2000

8:16 a.m.

From: Colin Leitch [county Information Technology Contracts manager]

To: David Chung; Gary Clarke; Kristin Zanavich

Subject: Fwd: Washington Technology's Weekly E-Letter

Chaps

Some interesting stories: It would appear that CSC is chasing the National Security Agency's outsourcing program for non-mission information technology. $5 billion over 10 years. We may wish to track how they perform on this procurement. I assume we will not be giving references?

Colin

September 6, 2000

12:25 p.m.

From: staff

To: Thomas Boardman

It has become more apparent in our meetings with the Pennant Alliance the past couple of days that the focus of our vendor with regard to the...project is not on the quality of the final product, but rather on solely fulfilling their contractual requirements. I believe that there is a major disconnect between the County's goals for the end product versus the PA's goals. While the County teams are focused on delivering a quality, well-designed, easy to use, single-point-of-entry system, the Pennant Alliance is only focused on meeting the list of requirements in the contract as they are written word for word. While I completely understand their contractual obligations, I am concerned that valuable information is being withheld from the County because the PA is not contractually obligated to provide it.

Without the mutual agreement on how to work toward a common vision, I believe that the quality of this...implementation is in severe jeopardy. It is becoming impossible to find ways of moving the County toward its ultimate goal of 'e-county' without access to information that will allow us to move in that direction.

If you would like to further discuss any of my concerns, I would be happy to meet with you.

September 14, 2000

From: Colin Leitch

Please find attached my first draft of the CSC default letter. We should get together tomorrow to fill in the blanks and soften the language. This is a serious issue, and we should not take this course of action lightly and without considering all the options. Please advise when you would like to meet.

Also as this may be your first "Default" I thought I should offer some insight.

One of the key factors in successfully supporting a termination for default action is for the government to act quickly once a breach of the contract is anticipated or recognized. The government is granted a period of time (normally 10 days, or longer as necessary) called "forbearance," in which the decision to terminate for default is made. Once that period expires, the government risks waiving its rights to pursue the termination for default.

Again, we should not take this course of action without considering all the possibilities and ramifications. Personally, I believe we have a contractual obligation and right to issue a cure notice to CSC. We must also protect our future rights and remedies under the Service Agreement. However, I believe that it should be drafted in such a way to show that we will work with CSC to resolve the problem. CSC has been in business for many years, and this will not be the first time they have defaulted and been issued a cure notice. I have no doubt that they will receive the cure notice like the professionals they are.